Ubud, Bali ~ Monkey Forest

Oh the Monkey Forest....

I have some very up and down feelings about this place. The Ubud Monkey Forest is a very popular tourist attraction in this town. It is basically an open conservation area where hundreds of monkeys live and are cared for by staff. The kids had been talking about seeing the monkeys since we got here, so last Friday we indulged. 

I went into the whole thing a little apprehensive. I have had a couple of run ins with aggressive monkeys over the years and had a fear that something would happen to one of the kids. We spent an hour or so walking around the park with no problems.. One small monkey jumped on my shoulder because he was attracted to my earrings, but other than that they left us alone. The kids loved watching them jump and play and Hugh was so excited to see them close up.

The problems came in at the end of our visit. Henry was walking a little bit in front of us and went to pass a large monkey in the path. I am not sure if the monkey felt threatened or Henry just got too close (Henry swears it was because he was wearing his banana shirt), but the monkey attacked him. He jumped at him with an open mouth and one of his teeth scratched Henry's hand. Dave scooped him up like a bear cub and we got the hell out of there. 

After calming him down with some ice cream and hugs, we went to the pharmacy to check in on him. They assured us it would be fine and sent us on our way with antibacterial cream and a warning to come in if he had a fever over the next three days. We spent the night researching online and decided to wait it out. Monkeys are not rabies carriers and there isn't much that they can do aside from put him on a full round of antibiotics along with give him a shot. 

I am happy to report that it has been a week with no adverse side effects. Video and photos of our experience below. Don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel to get all video updates!

Henry's tiny scratch

Best Impression of a Monkey

Steph